Lovers In Arms
by MarinePixie
Summary: Olivia Phillips and Steve McGarrett had a long history of serving in the armed forces and being friends. At the funeral of Steve's father, Olivia and Steve are reunited after years working apart and soon enough Olivia is offered a job and opportunity that will not only effect her life but also change her relationship with Steve.
1. Chapter 1

Hawaii was the closest thing to heaven in Olivia Phillips' opinion, it was a beautiful island and just looking out of your window in the morning reminded you that you were living almost in paradise. Today was a beautiful day like every other day in Hawaii but the beautiful day had no effect on Olivia's mood, in fact Olivia was in a rather bleak mood as she was at the funeral of an old family friend. John McGarrett, an old friend of Olivia's father from their childhood had been murdered in his home and whilst on leave from work Olivia felt duty bound to attend the funeral. Whilst Olivia's own father had passed away himself six years ago and she was unable to arrive back in time for his funeral, there was no way that she was going to miss John McGarrett's funeral. Olivia had stood behind the majority of mourners, most of them members of Honolulu PD and dressed in their dress blues as they said goodbye to their fallen officer. It wasn't the first time Olivia had been to a funeral and it sure as hell wasn't going to be the last time she went to a funeral of someone she knew. Now the funeral had ended and everyone was passing on their condolences towards John's family but Olivia still stood off in the distance, no wanting to come any further. Because if she did then she would start crying and that was the last thing that Olivia wanted to do as she wouldn't be able to stop herself as over the years she had lost a lot of people she had cared about. A part of Olivia still couldn't believe that she was here. John McGarrett had been like an uncle to Olivia throughout her entire life not to mention a good friend to her father, he didn't deserve to die the way that he done.

From where she stood Olivia could make out the figure of John's eldest child and only son Steve. Like her, Steve was in the service but whilst Olivia had joined the army Steve had joined the navy. They had kept in touch on and off over the years after Steve and his sister Mary had left for the mainland, before they had later gone on their separate ways and hadn't seen each other in a few years but regardless of that Olivia would recognize Steve anywhere. The tall handsome man with dark hair and beautiful blue eyes dressed in his dress uniform was instantly spotted by Olivia when she had arrived and now Olivia watched as Steve went about shaking hands with everyone who had turned up to pay their respects. Olivia stood there and continued to watch Steve until his blue eyes looked up and spotted her. Olivia let out a small weary smile and moments later Steve began to make his make over and the moment he reached her Olivia stood at attention and raised her arm to salute him and Steve followed suit and Olivia saluted him and Steve returned the salute. Despite the fact that Olivia was in the army and Steve was in the navy, it was a customary sign of respect to salute a fellow member of the armed services.

"Sergeant Phillips."

"Lieutenant Commander McGarrett." Olivia began using formalities before she decided to drop them once the need for them had passed.

"Hey soldier." Steve began using one of Olivia's many nicknames but solider was a personal one, it was something that was just between the two of them. Steve would call Olivia soldier and in return she would call him sailor. It had started about eight years ago after Olivia had completed basic training.

"Hi sailor." Olivia quietly stepped forward to hug Steve. "I'm so sorry about your dad Steve, you have my deepest sympathies."

"Thanks Liv, it would have meant a lot to my dad that you were here."

"It was the least I could do given everything your dad did when my old man passed away." Olivia replied in a reassuring manner as she had been deployed overseas when her father had passed away but John had pretty much taken care of everything. Even came with Olivia to the cemetery when she finally was able to come home and say goodbye to her father. Even after then John had looked out for Olivia and the two of them spoke frequently when she had been deployed overseas and she actually wanted to talk to Steve about it. "It's good to see you Steve, I just wish it was under better circumstances."

"Me too."

"Any leads into what happened?" Olivia asked as she looked over towards the coffin, she was aware of the fact that Steve's father had been killed in his own home. The place where Olivia had spent some rather good times as a child, even after she had grown up and was back home in Hawaii when she was on leave. From the connections that her father had built up around the city from when he was alive, Olivia had found out through them that the McGarrett murder had been pretty brutal and John had been executed in his house and there had been signs of a beating before he had been killed.

"We're working on it." Steve said and Olivia wearily nodded along until she realized that she had heard Steve say that we're working on it. As in he was working his father's murder which Olivia wasn't even sure was possible.

"What do you mean we're working on it Steven?"

"Governor Jameson offered me a task force to run, to find Victor Hesse and bring him to justice and to clean up Hawaii by any means necessary, full immunity included and no political red tape involved. I'm thinking of taking the job and transferring to the reserves." Steve revealed and Olivia had to admit she was very surprised to hear about Steve's sudden career change but it was very interesting to hear about it. Especially the immunity and no red tape part.

"So does this mean your home for good now?" Olivia questioned as whilst she had seen Steve over the years, she had never seen him in Hawaii. Steve hadn't come back to the island since his mother's death until now. After the death of his mother, Steve's father had sent him and his sister Mary to the mainland and neither of them had been back after that.

"Maybe, I did say I was thinking about taking the job."

"That's good… I haven't seen Mary around, is she here?" Olivia asked as she had been expecting to see Steve's sister Mary but not at one point during the entire funeral had Olivia seen Mary.

"Um… She couldn't make it." Steve replied and Olivia didn't press the manner any further as she knew things between the McGarrett siblings hadn't been great for the last few years, they had been rather strained ever since their father had sent them back to the mainland after their mother's death. "So how long are you going be around Liv? It would be good to catch up as the last time we saw each other, you were about to head back out for another six months and that was a while ago"

Olivia couldn't help but smile, it had been a few years since her and Steve had seen each other and she could remember exactly what deployment he was taking about. "I'm actually around for a while at the moment, I came back from a thirteenth month tour ten days ago so I have a bit of leave."

"You okay?" Steve asked and whilst it seemed like it was a perfectly innocent question, Olivia knew Steve was really asking about how she was doing since coming back from her deployment. In the last six years Olivia had spent close to about just over four years overseas on tours and she had been in the army for eight years now. During her time overseas on duty, Olivia had met a lot of people, done a lot of things and seen some thing, which she wished she had never seen it. Going to war had been something else entirely for her and it hadn't been an easy thing. Years ago on her first tour, Olivia had been naïve and unprepared for what she was going to see, nothing could have ever really prepared her for that. Years later Olivia had adapted to the reality of being in a war but that didn't mean that she was invincible from the effects from it.

"I'm fine."

"Olivia…" Steve began and Olivia could see that he didn't quite believe her but then again nobody ever did, they just assumed that something had to be wrong with her given that she had just completed another tour of duty and was a bit standoffish about the whole matter.

"Steven I'm fine, I came back from my deployment in one piece and apart from the fact that it took two days to get my body clock back in whack everything is good. I'm glad to be home but today isn't about me, it's about your dad and you. I'm supposed to be asking the questions about how your doing, not the other way round." Olivia stated as she moved things along as she didn't want to really be talking about herself and she didn't particularly like talking about her time overseas. It was complicated not to mention messy and very much bloody. Olivia guessed she had made herself pretty clear on the subject as Steve looked away and sighed before turning back to her.

"Liv, do you have anywhere to be?" Steve questioned and Olivia didn't know what to say at first as she guessed she didn't have anywhere to be now as she had come and done what she had needed to. She had come to the funeral, paid her respects and spoken to Steve so really there was nothing else for Olivia to be doing here so she could leave.

"I told you i have time."

"You want to get out of here?" Steve asked and Olivia nodded her head, she was more than ready to leave the cemetery as it was too beautiful of a day to be standing in a rather depressing places after saying goodbye to an old family friend. Being here just reminded Olivia of the fact that just like Steve, she hadn't been here when her own father had died.

"Sure, do you have any place in mind that you want to go?" Olivia replied as she figured that Steve would probably want to go to some bar and have some drinks in memory of his father. It's what Olivia had done when she had finally come home, visited her father's grave and went to the first bar she could find and drank her sorrows away and her father hadn't been murdered. He had died of a heart attack.

"My father's house."


	2. Chapter 2

Olivia stood round the back of the McGarrett house unable to actually believe that she was here, when Steve had said to her that he wanted to go to his father's house Olivia obliges thinking that Steve wanted to go back to his childhood hood just to see it. But no he didn't want to just see it, Steve actually wanted to go inside and check out the crime scene and here they were, after stopping by Olivia's apartment to change out of their dress uniforms and into civvies. As they stood Olivia couldn't help but glance at Steve who was surveying his former home, for him it was the first time he had laid eyes on his childhood home in ten years and they were about to go inside knowing full well that inside was where his father had been executed. Despite the stoic front Steve was putting up for both their sakes, Olivia could tell this was getting to Steve a lot more than he was willing to show. But she knew he needed to do this, he wasn't going to be able to let this go until he had caught Victor Hesse. But Olivia also knew that Steve was driven by the fact that the lead detective on his father's case was a new guy, barely fresh out of the water after coming over from the mainland. Olivia knew that this was the last place that the two of them should be, the McGarrett house was a crime scene in an active investigation and them being there could lead to trouble. However that wasn't the most important thing to Olivia at the moment.

"You ready?" Olivia asked.

"As I'll ever be." Steve replied and his eyebrow rose slightly when Olivia pulled out a small set of house keys from her jeans pocket. "You have a key to the house?"

"I've always had a key to the house." Olivia wearily began with a weak smile, she had a key to his father's house and had done since Steve and Mary had left to go to the mainland. Steve had been about sixteen and Olivia had been twelve at the time. After him and his sister had left, Olivia as young as she was had taken it upon herself to personally check up on the elder McGarrett. Taking a deep breath Olivia opened the back door and motioned for Steve to go in ahead of her and Olivia quickly followed behind. The house was dark but Olivia could see pretty well even more so when Steve had turned on some lights left behind from the crime scene unit. Straight away Olivia could see blood from where she and Steve were at standing and she was certain that the two of them were looking at the place where his father had been murdered. There was this sickly feeling in the pit of Olivia's stomach. Seeing blood wasn't anything new to Olivia, she had been exposed to a lot of things when she had been overseas. But this was different, she was looking at the place where someone who had meant something to her had been killed. Olivia's heart just ached even more as she looked at Steve and she couldn't help but place her hand on his arm. "Tell me what you need me to do."

"Examine the crime scene, you know the drill." Steve quietly said and Olivia nodded her head slowly before carefully walking away but she didn't get too far as Steve grabbed her hand and pulled her back. "Hey Liv?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you." Steve said and Olivia gave him a small smile as she squeezed his hand, as hard as this was for her it was no doubt harder for Steve. And Olivia was willing to do whatever she could to make this whole ordeal easier for him. She may not be going through the same pain Steve was going through but Olivia knew what it was like to lose a father.

"I just wish there was more that I could do sailor." Olivia replied and Steve smiled at her before letting go off her hand and the two of them got started. Olivia was no forensic specialist but she knew enough to follow the directionality of the blood spatter to where she found more blood spatter on the wall. Pulling her phone out Olivia started to take pictures of all the blood spatter, making sure she didn't disturb the crime scene.

"It's eerie how this house looks the same, like nothing has changed since Mary and I left." Steve said breaking the silence.

"You know your dad Steve, he was pretty much stuck in the dark ages and was against anything being changed unless it had to be. I think him keeping the house like this was his way of keeping a hold onto the happier times he had before he sent you and Mary to the mainland back when your mom was alive. Dad told me once that your dad was really struggling after she passed away."

"So much so that he sent the two of us away." Steve said and the resentment over that was still clear in his voice.

"Steve I know you didn't like the fact that you were sent away and trust me neither was I but losing your mom so suddenly and having to be a single parent to you and Mary was hard. Look at my dad, neither him or your dad where ready to be single parents and as much fault that we can blame on both of them at least they tried. My father was a brilliant businessman and a good father to me and my brothers but he had no business trying to raise a little girl the way he raised me. Dad had no idea in how to raise a daughter. Growing up it was like he had three sons instead of two sons and a daughter, my old man only really realized that I was a girl when I hit puberty. But the two of them tried despite the fact they were pretty bad at it so you have to give them that. At least your dad was proud of you, I know it didn't seem like it but he was so proud of you Steve. Unlike mine, even till the day he died my father still couldn't accept the fact that I was in the army. In his eyes it was like the worst thing I could have ever done but I still miss the old coot…" Olivia explained and it caused Steve to look up from where he was crouching down by his father's desk. "I'm sorry about what happened to your dad."

"So am I." Olivia stated before moving the subject on from her father and onto the present issue at the moment. "What have you got there?

"Someone was sitting here at my father's desk, I'm pretty sure that there was a laptop here and we both know my dad could barely work the vcr at times so there was no way he'd have a laptop. I've managed to lift some prints of someone's hands so there was definitely someone sitting at my dad's desk." Steve replied and the two of them soon moved on into the garage, where Steve pulled off some trap to reveal his father's 1968 mercury brougham. It was something that Olivia knew that John had been working on in hopes of someday give it to Steve or his grandchildren. "Wow… I can't believe this old thing is still here."

"Of course it would be, your father was still adamant that he could salvage it but I had kind of wrote the car off. It was fun however to come over and attempt to fix it." Olivia replied with a weary laugh.

"The two of you were close?" Steve asked and Olivia shrugged her shoulders nervously.

"Yeah. In no way was your dad and I's relationship his attempt to replace you or Mary but I liked coming over to talk and share war storied with him. My dad, Grady and Everett never really understood my life and everything that comes with being in the army and my brothers still don't. But your dad did so whenever I was here on the island I'd come and talk to him." Olivia revealed, she wasn't one for talking about her time overseas with anyone but she did talk about it occasionally with Steve's dad.

"Did you talk about Iraq and Afghanistan with him? About the ambush and shoot out?" Steve asked and Olivia froze. She hadn't talked about that in three years and she had no idea how Steve knew about it. Olivia looked Steve in the eye momentarily turning away in a rather uncomfortable manner. Olivia went about looking at the work bench in the garage, taking in all the tools and clutter. In here it was like John was still here. "Liv…"

"It's fine Steve." Olivia replied in a forced manner as she wasn't fine, just thinking about what happened all those years ago made her feel tense as it was something that Olivia didn't like thinking about at all. Olivia just wanted to pretend like the subject had never been brought up so she started examining a red tool box that was right in front of her.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." Steve quietly said and from behind her Olivia could hear footsteps approaching and soon enough she was well aware of the fact that Steve was standing behind her. "Hey, what are you looking at? Is that the tool box?"

"Yeah, why?" Olivia asked as Steve gently moved her aside and began to examine the toolbox in a rushed manner, at first he had found a gold key but lifting up the top layer, Olivia saw there was a lot more at the bottom of the box including a voice recorder that Steve had just picked up.

"The day my dad was killed I was on the phone with him, Victor Hesse had my dad call me in hopes of making a deal with me. My dad called me champ and I found that weird because not once in my entire life has he ever called me champ. But I think he was trying to lead me to this, I think dad knew that Victor was going to kill him and he needed to make sure that I found this toolbox." Steve explained before pressing play on the voice recording.

_"I can't continue this investigation into the police department from the inside. I don't trust the people I work with. So I'm gonna have to do this on my own. It's all about the key. I just don't know what it's for. I have only been able to find two source..."_

The sound of John McGarrett's voice preserved on tape was very haunting and it was very unnerving.

"Oh my god, I knew something was wrong…" Olivia quietly said as this all made sense to her, well it vaguely did.

"Liv? What are you talking about?" Steve questioned and Olivia took a deep breath before she spoke.

"When I was overseas your dad would and I write to each other, I think he wanted to make sure that I was okay when I was away on a tour especially this last tour considering how long it was. Anyway I got a letter from him about two or three months ago and it sounded a bit weird so I called him the first chance I could. Your dad sounded tired and weary but it wasn't like he was just generally tired, it sounded like he was mentally exhausted. Your dad told me it was because old age was fast catching up with him. I didn't believe him but at the time I let it go. The next time we spoke your dad finally admitted to me that he was working on case, a big case…" Olivia revealed as she was putting two and two together and assuming that the investigation that John had been talking about on the recording was the same one that he had mentioned to her.

"Did he mention anything else? Something more specific?"

"No. Your dad said he couldn't talk about it over the phone but he mentioned that we could talk about it once I returned from deployment. That was the last time that we spoke on the phone." Olivia wearily replied and before Steve could even reply a floor board creaked and Olivia realized that someone was in the house. Quickly looking at her Steve motioned for her to be quiet as he quickly shut the toolbox and drew his gun out before motioning for Olivia to stand behind him since she wasn't carrying at the moment

"You! Hands up! Don't move!"

Olivia saw a an average sized man with dark blonde hair dressed in a very smart causal manner walk into the garage with a gun pointed at her and Steve. This was what Olivia was afraid of when she brought Steve here and allowed him to come inside the house. No doubt this guy was a cop and he was about to bust them.

"Who are you?" Steve demanded.

"Who are you? I am Detective Danny Williams–"

"Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett. this is my father's house." Steve interrupted, not giving the poor man a chance to finish and Olivia couldn't help but groan as they were really in trouble now and the fact that Steve was ignoring the cop was just making things worse. But then Olivia was reminded about what John has said in the recording about not being able to trust anyone in HPD. There was a chance that this cop was sniffing around and trying to find whatever it was that John had been investigating.

"Put your weapon down right now." Danny yelled and it started a small volleying match of the two men both yelling at each other to put their weapons down despite the fact that it was clear to Olivia and both men that no one was going to put down their weapons anytime soon. "Show me your I.D. You show me your I.D.! Right now!"

"I'm not putting my gun down." Steve firmly stated.

"Neither am I."

"Use your free hand, take out your I.D.

"Please, after you."

"At the same time?" Steve offered when it became clear that neither man was willing to be the first one to put their gun down and Olivia could see that the situation was starting to diffuse just a tiny bit. Which was slightly reassuring.

"At the same time?" Danny couldn't help but skeptically ask.

"Yeah, at the same time."

Eventually both men took out their ids and once it was established that they were both who they said they were, the guns were finally put down. But it became clear to Olivia that her and Steve weren't going anywhere yet especially given the way that Detective Williams was eying them up. "So whose your friend?"

"Sergeant Olivia Philips, US Army." Olivia said introducing herself after finally being included in the conversation, even pulling out her id and flashing it to the detective for good measure.

"Look, I'm sorry about your father but you can't be here it's still an active crime scene." Danny began.

"Doesn't seem that active and you can't really blame us for wanting some actual information. Lt. Commander McGarrett buried his father only this morning, a man who gave his life to protect and serve not only this state but also his country and yet somehow the state he served so well can't even tell his next of kin anything? It's rather frustrating to be left in the dark about something so important and you probably agree with me detective that the families of the victims do deserve answers and so far I can safely say as a family friend that both myself and Lt. Commander McGarrett have more questions than we do answers." Olivia curtly said, interrupting the detective as he spoke.

"I can't share information with you." Danny stated.

"Then I'll share some with you: Hesse wasn't here alone, someone was sitting at the kitchen table working on a laptop when my father was murdered. There was space cleared on the counter, size of a 13 inch laptop and my father hated computers." Steve couldn't help but point out and at first the sarcastic detective didn't seem to know what to say.

"Look, you both need to leave now –" Danny began and Olivia glanced at Steve who nodded in agreement and as he picked up the toolbox they walked past the detective and began to head out. "You can't take that, you know everything's evidence."

"I came with this." Steve boldly lied and Olivia nodded for good measure. As the detective was surely able to take the word of two members of the military.

"No you didn't, I can see the dust void it left on the shelf. What are you hiding in there ?"

"How long have you been with Honolulu PD?" Olivia couldn't help but ask as this detective seemed to be rather uptight and very much cranky for a detective here in Hawaii, not to mention he was wearing a tie. Which meant he was definitely the cop fresh off the main land that Steve had been telling her about earlier.

"None of your damn business, Barbara Walters–" Danny retorted.

"Hey! You don't talk to her like and just so you know, it's our business how long you've been with Honolulu PD if you're investigating my father's death." Steve firmly said, tossing his ego and authority round a but Olivia didn't mind. Sometimes with the police you had to burn a fire under their ass to get any traction from them and this cop needed to get moving as he had both Steve and herself wanting him to finally get some work done.

"I'd really like to get back to that, so the sooner you leave, the sooner I can get on with it." Danny instructed and once again Olivia and Steve attempted to leave with the toolbox but the cranky detective wasn't having any of it. Eventually Steve did put down the toolbox but he then picked it back up and handed it over to Olivia whilst he pulled out a business card from his pants pocket and began dialing a number that was on the card into his phone.

"Governor Jameson, please... Tell her it's Steve McGarrett." Steve said and Olivia could see where this was going where as Detective Williams seemed to think of this as a joke and was laughing. Steve looked over to Danny and grinned. "Be with you in a sec."

"This should be interesting." Olivia couldn't help but murmur as he watched Steve converse with the Governor of Hawaii over the phone whilst Detective Williams just looked on in confusion. Especially when Steve raised his right hand.

"I, Steven J. McGarrett, do solemnly declare upon my honor and conscience that I will act at all times to the best of my ability and knowledge in a manner befitting an officer of the law. I will faithfully obey the orders of my superiors and will be ready to confront danger in the line of duty. Thank you, Governor." Steve replied after a few moments, putting down his right hand and turning to Danny with a bright grin on his face. "Now it's my crime scene, come on Liv."

Quietly chuckling to herself Olivia followed Steve out of the garage, through the house and making their way out the back just like they had come in. As soon as they were out of the house Olivia handed Steve back the toolbox. "That was funny although a bit harsh, the man was only trying to do his job even if he is an outsider."

"You weren't giving him an easy time either yourself Liv but I like that guy, there's something about him." Steve replied with a small smile and Olivia was just bemused by the whole thing. This day was getting even stranger by the hour, it was hard to believe that only two hours she was at a funeral and talking to Steve for the first time in years. Now it was like the two of them had barely even been apart.

"Well I don't think Detective Williams can say the same about you I'm afraid." Olivia pointed out and Steve laughed, seemingly a lot more relaxed then he was forty minutes ago. He was less rigid and formal which Olivia put down to him being back home for the first time in about twenty years. It seemed like Steve hadn't completely forgotten how to keep an easy going mentality. He just seemed to leave it in Hawaii. "So you've taken the job? I hope it wasn't just to wind Detective Williams up."

"I took it, if only to spend more time with you although it was nice to see the look on Detective's Williams face when I told him that my dad's house was now my crime scene." Steve quipped and Olivia gently nudged him in the ribs, she knew that was so not the reason why Steve took the job but it was nice of him to say so. Either way they got to spend time together again.


	3. Chapter 3

Olivia slowly walked into what was the new headquarters for Steve's new task force, it had only been established in the last few days but already the offices weren't looking too bad. It was clearly still a work in progress although it wasn't far from being done but it was still nicer than any office that Olivia ever had. The office space they had was very large, although it was nothing compared to Olivia's office but then again her office was in the middle of the desert. Olivia had decided to stop by and check things out as she hadn't seen Steve in a few days as she wanted to give him some space as a lot of things has happened to him in the last few days after the funeral. But she had spoken to him on the phone and was well aware of what happened with Victor Hesse and his somewhat already difficult relationship with his new partner Detective Williams. Given how much of a wrong foot the two of them had started off, Olivia wanted to make sure that they hadn't killed each other yet as she was quite aware that Danny didn't seem to have any patience for Steve. It was all rather funny. At first Olivia couldn't see Steve, all she could see was workmen coming in and out, installing things until she noticed a familiar face pop out of nowhere as they made her way towards her.

"Sgt. Phillips…" Danny began.

"Danny I think you can call me by my first name, if I'm calling you by your first name. So just call me Olivia, I tend to avoid being addressed by my rank when I'm outside of work and my uniform so there is no need for any formalities." Olivia instructed with a small smile as she had encountered people having issues looking beyond what her job was. Once they knew that she was in the army, it never seemed to go and people couldn't let it go and always felt like they had to address her by her rank whenever they wanted to talk to her. Olivia may be Sgt. Phillips, but she was also just Olivia and she liked being addressed as that.

"Okay… So Olivia I take it that you are here to see Steven?" Danny asked and Olivia nodded.

"Yeah but I can see he's not here at the moment which gives me a chance to apologize for what happened when we first met. I know I was a bit full on and not helping with the Steve situation, but John was a good friend of my dad's and like a second father to me. So I wanted to help Steve to do whatever it took to help him catch Victor Hesse." Olivia sheepishly said as thinking back on that day in the garage, it wasn't just Steve who had been giving Danny a bit of a hard time but her too.

"Forget about it, that was actually the most normal thing that has happened to me since I met Steve." Danny said and Olivia couldn't help but chuckle.

"Steve mentioned that he had commandeered you and made you his partner, how's that going so far?" Olivia couldn't help but question.

"Steve is crazy but I assume you already know that and a heads up would have been nice… But seriously how do you put up with him? I've known him barely a week and already I've been shot and been driven on to a Chinese freighter ship and that's just the start of it!"

"I know Steve is a navy seal through and through, doing whatever it takes to get the job mission done so I wouldn't count on him calming down anytime soon. Steve has always been the action man ever since I can remember, always active and running about. As for how I put up with him? I'm deployed overseas for long periods of time and so I only see him a handful of times over the years when were both in the same place and at the same time so I couldn't really give you any advice of how to deal with him I'm afraid. But he is a good guy behind it all." Olivia assured Danny, although she suspected it was a little but too late.

"So how far do you and him go back?"

"Pretty much my entire life, there's not really a time that I haven't known Steve as I've known him for as long as I can remember. Our dad's were friends before any of us were born so we kind of grew up with each other until he moved back to the mainland. Kept in touch as best we could but it's not always easy especially in the last ten years because the two of us are always moving around because of our jobs. The two of us are rarely ever in the same place as each other and if we are it's not for long." Olivia admitied.

"McGarrett mentioned that you just came back from Iraq." Danny mentioned and Olivia let out a sigh, another mention of the thing she didn't want to talk about. "How long were you over there for?"

"Long enough." Olivia quietly replied as her thirteen month deployment was the longest tour of duty that she had done and it felt more like she had been there for three years then thirteen months. It seemed to drag on for the longest time yet it seemed to go by so quickly after the first nine months. Danny looked like he was going to ask another question but Olivia was spared from having to answer the question that was no doubt going to be along the lines of how was her time overseas. It was the question that she hated to answer most out of any question someone could ask her about her deployments but she was spared from avoiding that question by the arrival of two people. It was a man and a woman, both of Asian decent but not of the same age. The man was older than the woman but not ancient and Olivia knew the man, she had actually met him a couple of time.

"Hey Danny, where's the boss?" The woman asked and Olivia couldn't believe that Steve already had these people calling him boss. It was unbelievable and yet so typical of Steve.

"Probably causing mass destruction knowing him." Danny scoffed before moving things along. "Olivia this is–"

"–Chin Ho Kelly, it's good to see you again." Olivia interrupted as she held out her hand and Chin shook it in a warm manner.

"Good to see you again too Olivia."

"Olivia it's good to see you again."

"You two have met?" Danny stated after a moment and both Olivia and Chin nodded as the handshake and greeting had kind of given the whole thing away. It had been a while since Olivia had seen Chin Ho, about three years or so but she never forgot a face.

"A few times, through Steve's father." Olivia explained as Chin was John's partner back at HPD a few years ago and so she had met him when she stopped by to visit John whenever she was at work.

"Of course, well Kono Kalakaua this is Sgt. Olivia Phillips a friend of Steve's from the army." Danny said finishing off the introductions and Olivia smiled as she reached out and shook Kono's hand. No doubt she had just finished meeting the rest of Steve's task force.

"Pleasure."

"You too Sergeant." Kono replied with a small and before Olivia could quickly correct Kono about addressing her by her rank, she felt a hand a hand on the small of her back and looking over her right shoulder Olivia could see that Steve was standing behind her. Olivia was thankful that she hadn't jumped out of her skin when Steve had touched her as she had a tendency of doing that when she was spooked. It was stemmed from her time overseas and always being woken up in the night because an alarm had gone of. Being sneaked up on was something that didn't go well with Olivia.

"I'm glad to see you've all met." Steve said with a grin and from the corner of her eye Olivia could see Danny roll his eyes and murmur something under his breath that was just too quiet for her to hear. "You guys mind if I borrow Liv for a minute? I need to talk about something with her."

"Go ahead, just try not to get her shot!" Danny sarcastically shot out and Olivia could tell that he was still bitter about the whole shooting thing as Steve lead her away from the group and into a room and shut the door behind them.

"They all seem nice." Olivia couldn't help but state.

"They are."

"It's good that your working with Chin Ho, your dad thought highly of him from what I can recall." Olivia absentlymindedly replied as she looked over her shoulder and back at the group who were talking between themselves until she looked back and noticed Steve looking at her with an usual expression. "What?"

"Where you've been? I thought you'd stop by the house over the weekend or something." Steve casually said and Olivia couldn't help but smile, Steve had missed her. It was sweet.

"Busy, your not my only friend on the island Steven and besides your on the job now and I'm on leave so I'm taking advantage of that before I have to go back to work myself. So forgive me for keeping my distance as the last thing I want to be thinking about is any work in the slightest but if you really missed me that much you could have picked up the phone and called me. I would have come over if you had told me you wanted to do something with me Steve, all you had to so was ask…" Olivia teased

"There goes that famous arrogance, kind of forgotten about." Steve retorted.

"It's not arrogance Steve it's self belief, there's a difference." Olivia quipped.

"If you say so."

Olivia laughed before she started walking around the room, it was nice and spacious although unlike the other rooms it was vastly empty. There was nothing in here except four walls and a door. Most rooms here were actually started to resemble an office and headquarters except this one. "So what's this room supposed to be?"

"Well it's going to be your office." Steve casually replied and at first Olivia started chuckling until she realized that Steve wasn't laughing, he wasn't joking and that caused her to stop in her step and look at him.

"Excuse me?" Olivia hoarsely asked as she could have sworn that Steve had just said that this was going to be her office. But that was insane because Olivia didn't need Steve to give her an office because firstly she didn't work for him, she worked for the US Army and had her own office although it tend to be in deserts and move around every few months. But that wasn't the point.

"I want you to come work with me here at the task force." Steve announced and even hearing it for the second time didn't really do anything for Olivia. She was very much in a place that was somewhere between a hard rock and actual shock. Which kind of surprised Olivia as it generally took a lot to shook her after the things that she had witnessed whilst at war. But Steve McGarrett offering her a job at of the blue when she had a job seemed to do it. Olivia was speechless to put it lightly and it took a few moments for her to wrap her head around the whole situation before she finally got a hold over herself

"Steven this isn't funny, this joke is terrible."

"This isn't a joke Liv, I'm beign serious. I want you to come and work with me." Steve asserted and it was then that Olivia's shook quickly disappeared only to be replaced with annoyance and anger as she couldn't believe Steve had the balls to be doing what he was doing.

"In what whacked out reality of yours do you think I am qualified to be any part of this? Steve I am not a cop I am just a soldier, no more and no less." Olivia firmly stated as Steve seemed to kind of forget that she already had a job, she had kind of dedicated herself to protecting and serving their country.

"Olivia you know you are more than just that." Steve began.

"I have a job already Steven, one that I'm pretty content with and have no intention of leaving anytime soon. So sorry your asking the wrong girl…" Olivia said cutting Steve off because she wasn't going to let him convince her to leave the army to join him. It wasn't going to work at all because Olivia had made a commitment to the army and she was seeing that through until it got to the point where she could no longer fulfil her duty, be it dead or alive.

"I can't do this without you Liv."

"Yes you can Steve and don't pretend like you don't know that either." Olivia retorted in an angry manner as she knew Steve was more than qualified to handle this, he had worked naval intelligence and was also a seal. He had done things that Olivia couldn't even begin to imagine, nor did she want to. But that didn't mean she was stupid or she could easily be sweet talked into doing something especially by a man, even if they looked like Steve McGarrett.

"Fine, I don't want to do this without you Olivia." Steve replied after taking a deep breath and Olivia felt herself calming down ever so slightly. Maybe now Steve would realize what an idiot he was being by attempting to get her to join his task force.

"You've been doing fine without me for years Steven… Steve do you think I can just get up and walk away from my job? I have people that need me and job that isn't something that I can just get up and walk away from. I am not you Steve, my job is the only meaningful thing that I have in my life and I'm not leaving it just because you think you need me when you don't, you just think you need me." Olivia angrily stated as she poked Steve several times in the chest for good measure, to make sure that he was getting the message that she was trying to get into his rather thick skull. But soon enough Steve grabbed a hold of Olivia's hand, holding it tight enough that she couldn't move it but not hard enough that he was actually hurting her.

"Your wrong Olivia as I do need you Liv, I need your help as your the only one I can trust, you were the only one who my father seemed to trust and I need your help in trying to figure out what he was investigating. I want you to come work with me and help with this case and all the other cases that we get because Hawaii is your home just as much as it is mine. You told me after you came home from your first deployment that none of the stress and images that you saw mattered when you came home. Well I'm asking you to help protect and serve Hawaii just like you do our country. You think that you're just a soldier but that is not true Olivia, you are so much more than that. You speak five languages, you have innate ability to read people and pick up on certain behaviours and you have this strong sense of honour that is unbelievable. Liv, you are incredibly smart and you know the island and you love it, you always have which is why I need you." Steve said in a calm and soft voice as he attempted to convince Olivia to join the task force and whilst Olivia had been touched about everything he had just said to her. It wasn't going to happen.

"I have to go back Steven." Olivia said her voice crackling ever so slightly, he didn't understand and Olivia doubted he ever would.

"No you don't Liv, you don't have the army you can do what I did and transfer to the reserves so you can stay here and go back if they call you back. You don't have to keep volunteering to go back on deployments because you feel like you have to." Steve quietly said and very much annoyed again Olivia pulled her hand out of Steve's grasp.

"Did you think that you cold just spring this thing on me and that I would accept without even thinking about it just because you asked me to? Steve I am not the twelve year old girl who used to do anything you asked because I had a huge crush on you. I have to go back Steven, I need to go back and I will go back to wherever they send me, be it Iraq or Afghanistan." Olivia firmly put as Steve McGarrett had no control over Olivia or her career. He had no say over her life in the slightest. No matter what he wanted, Olivia wasn't going to give up her job just because he wanted her to. She had a duty, one that came before Steve and the case his father had been working on.

"You almost didn't come back from Afghanistan." Steve stated and as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Olivia slapped him across the face. She could not believe that he had the sheer nerve to bring up that when he knew absolutely nothing about that happened there. Olivia didn't even know how Steve knew about it as she had never told him, she had never told anyone.

"–Don't you ever bring that up again in front of me, you have no idea what happened over there." Olivia yelled as she pushed past Steve and practically pulled the door of the office open and stormed out of it, ignoring the looks that were coming her way from Danny, Chin and Kono. Olivia didn't care, she just wanted to get away from Steve as fast as she could and get to the nearest bar.


	4. Chapter 4

Horrendous. That was the only way to describe how Olivia felt in the morning and it wasn't because of the mild hangover she had although it was part of the reason she felt bad. Most of it was to do with the fact that she was still very much angry with Steve over what happened yesterday and after she left his office Olivia went to a bar and proceeded to get very drunk with her roommate Nora. Everything after that got a bit fuzzy but Olivia had woken up alone and in her own bed much to her relief as the last thing that she wanted was to hook up with some stranger. As she wearily walked out of her bedroom Olivia walked down the hallway until she came to the open plan living room and kitchen, where she found her roommate Nora sitting at the breakfast bar happily munching on a piece of toast. Olivia shuffled into the kitchen, grunted a morning greeting to Nora as she went about making herself some peppermint tea. All Olivia wanted to do was stay in bed all day but she found herself dragging herself out of bed as if she was going to be miserable, she might as well be miserable on the couch with a comforter and some movies.

"Good morning Liv." Nora chirped and Olivia just grimaced.

"Are you sure about that?" Olivia grimly replied as nothing suggested to her that it was a good day in the slightest as she was still annoyed about what happened yesterday and she had woken up in a rather foul mood with a hangover. Her day had started just like it had ended last night; terrible.

"I'm not surprised that your hungover Olivia, you were really knocking back the drinks last night especially the tequila. I'm surprised that you even managed to drag your ass out of bed as you were a wreck by the time I managed to drag you home Liv." Nora chuckled and Olivia glared at her roommate before swiping the slice of toast that Nora was eating and taking a bite for herself.

"Then why didn't you stop me if I was so bad?" Olivia questioned through a mouthful of toast, social graces went out of the window when she was hungover and felt like a complete wreck.

"I thought about it but then I decided against it as you deserve to blow off some steam and get crazy drunk since you came back from your tour plus you were in a really bad mood and your really scary when your angry. So I figured I'd let you get drunk and keep an eye on you and make sure you didn't get into any trouble and to be fair you were pretty harmless and quite funny. Until some guy called Steve called you and then you really started chugging back the tequila. You said something about wanting to get drunk enough that you just didn't care enough anymore." Nora revealed and Olivia couldn't help but pinch the top of her nose as she poured herself some tea. "So whose this Steve guy?"

"Family friend, it was his dad's who funeral I went to the other day… Steve's in the navy but he's just transferred to the reserves to run some taskforce for the governor." Olivia wearily explained, being as vague as possible.

"Well for a friend you seemed to be really pissed off with him." Nora noted.

"That's because I am, Steve offered me a job yesterday in his taskforce and things didn't end well." Olivia stated in a rather sour tone of voice as just thinking about it was getting her worked up and her hangover really didn't need it.

"He offered you a job? Can he do that?"

"I'm pretty certain he can, the governor has pretty much given Steve the authority to do whatever he wants such as offering me a job when he's aware that I have one! The nerve of that man! You should have seen him Nora, Steve just assumed that I would quit my job and join this taskforce of his because he had already got an office for me. Steve just completely seemed to ignore the fact that I can't just pick and choose what I get to do, I can't stay in Hawaii as I have to go back. He was being such a jerk and then he had the nerve to bring up my last last tour!" Olivia spat before taking a sip of her tea and going to look for something for her poor head. During this time Olivia couldn't help but note that her roommate was being very quiet. "What? Why are you so quiet?"

"You got pretty upset last night when Steve called last night hence the tequila but when we were in the ladies you kind of burst into tears. You were sort of crying and ranting about Steve and something what happened when you were in Afghanistan." Nora slowly said and Olivia felt her jaw harden at the mere mention of Afghanistan, it was all Steve's fault. It also explained why Olivia had woken up with eyes that looked like puffy mushrooms. Olivia wanted to crawl into a hole and die, she'd even take still being blind drunk at this point.

"Sake." Olivia darkly murmured.

"You want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Would it be such a bad thing if you stuck around for a while?" Nora hesitantly asked and Olivia couldn't believe what she was hearing as she had been expecting Nora to take her side. Given that they were friends and roommates, Olivia let Nora live in her apartment at a very cheap rate since she needed someone to take care of it whilst she was overseas. The last thing Olivia was expecting was for Nora to suggest that she should take the job. Nora was supposed to be on her side, regardless of what she thought. But then again Nora wasn't one for normal conventions with her pale pink hair, model good looks but studying to get her PhD in mathematics.

"Nora…" Olivia began not wanting to have this conversation a she had already had it with Steve and she did not want to have it again, especially when she was hungover.

"Liv just hear me out, we've been roommates for just under six years now but we've only actually lived with each other for just under two years and even then it's rather sporadic as your always coming and going. I know it's because of your deployments and I knew that you wouldn't be around much when I moved in. But don't you just want to live your life sometimes? You thirty years old and you have spent the last nine years in the army, you practically spent your entire twenties working and being overseas."

"I knew what I was getting into when I enlisted Nora, I didn't decide to join the army on a whim, I did my research and all those years of hard work got me here. This is my life which is why I didn't hesitate to reenlist when my eight years was up." Olivia explained.

"Liv you don't have to explain it to me but wouldn't it be nice just to be home for a while. Connect with your family and friends again instead of only seeing them for two weeks every several months. Isn't your brother's wife pregnant? That's got be worth sticking around for a bit. Let somebody take care of you, have fun and enjoy the world instead of always fighting overseas." Nora urged and Olivia just sighed and took a sip of her tea. "You need a break for a while Liv, these last few years all you've done is work constantly."

"It's all I know Nora."

"They take a break and try something else for a while, it doesn't mean you have to leave the army. You could go back if you wanted to right?" Nora asked and Olivia slowly nodded her head, she knew that she had missed out on a lot. She had barely managed to make it on time for her Everett's wedding, Olivia had gotten in the night before to surprise him but two weeks after she was off again. Then she had missed Grady's college graduation, their father's funeral. Basically Olivia had missed a lot of things, it was like she was barely even a member of her own family.

"Yes."

Before Nora could answer there was a knock on the door and Olivia just groaned as it was far too loud for her particular liking and Nora laughed as she went to the door and looked through the peephole. Nora looked through it and then looked over at Olivia with a small frown on her face. Olivia didn't really understand as she never had visitors to her apartment as she was never there and she liked it that way. The only people who ever came to the apartment were Nora's friends and family. "Um Liv, this guy Steve… Is he tall, dark and incredibly handsome with blue eyes and with a body that looks like it belongs to a Greek Adonis?"

"He's on the other side of the door, isn't he?" Olivia wearily asked although the grin on Nora's face pretty much said it all.

"Yep."

Taking a deep breath Olivia walked over to the door and slowly opened it and there on the other side of the door was a rather sheepish Steve McGarrett carrying a bouquet of sunflowers. Knowing full well that he wouldn't give up until he spoke to her, Olivia motioned for Steve to come in. "Steve this is my roommate Nora Fletcher and Nora this is Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett…"

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Steve began.

"You too, Olivia has told me quite a bit about you although she did leave out how good looking you were." Nora quipped and Olivia couldn't help but roll her eyes as Nora was unbloody believable.

"These are for you Liv." Steve said as he handed the flowers over to her and Olivia reluctantly took and went to find a vase for them in the kitchen. Just because Steve remember that sunflowers were some of her favourite flowers, it didn't mean she was just going to forgive him. Because Olivia wasn't, once the flowers were in a vase and sitting on the kitchen table she idly walked over to the living room and sat down on her cream couch. All this standing whilst slightly hungover wasn't doing her much good.

"Well I'll leave you both to it." Nora said with a small smile before slinking off out of the living room and heading back towards her bedroom leaving Olivia and Steve alone.

"About what happened the other day Liv…"

"Steve can we please not do this right now as I am really not in the mood for this conversation." Olivia wearily said as she rubbed her eyes in an irritated manner, after what she had heard from Nora all Olivia wanted to do was just crawl into a hole. Olivia couldn't believe that she had got so drunk and worked up about what happened that she had started crying. In the last three years Olivia had cried about five times at the most and generally it was things a lot worse then her having an argument with Steve.

"Are you hungover?"

"Yes I am hungover or have you not taken a real good look at me." Olivia shot back as she was well aware that her green eyes were all puffy from all the crying and her dirty blonde hair was all over the place and half scraped into a bun. Then she was walking around in just a tank top and some old stripped pyjama pants. It was not a pretty sight but Olivia couldn't care less, she was in her own home, the one place where she could walk around like an absolute slob whenever she wanted to.

"Good night?"

"I can't recall much but it mustn't' have been too good seeing as I woke up alone but then again maybe that is a good thing." Olivia grimly noted before she even realized what was coming out of her mouth and once she did, Olivia knew it was too late to take it back. But Steve didn't seemed shocked by it, in fact he seemed rather amused by it all.

"How much did you have to drink?"

"Not enough." Olivia grumbled as she curled up onto the sofa, wearily eyeing up Steve as he came towards her and it looked like he was going to sit beside until he caught attention of something on one of the bookcases. Olivia watched as he smiled as he picked up a framed photograph and for the life of her she couldn't figure out what picture he was looking at. Olivia was barely ever home and when she was it generally was only to sleep so she wasn't familiar with the finer details of her apartment as some of the stuff in it she hadn't looked at in years.

"Oh wow…" Steve murmured.

"What are you looking at?" Olivia questioned as she was now curious and Steve came over and sat down on the couch next to Olivia and had her the photo frame. The photograph was of her, Steve, Mary and her two brothers Grady and Everett, they all had their arms around each other and grinning widely in the photo. The photo had been taken roughly about twenty two years ago as judging by her missing two front teeth Olivia put herself about being eight when this photo was taken which Steve was round about twelve. "I forgot I had this, I think I swiped it from my dad's house a few years ago."

"I think this was taken at your dad's house in the summer during a barbeque, we we're so young back then. Unbelievable how much time has gone by since this was taken." Steve noted.

"Things were so much easier back then." Olivia replied with a small sigh

"Liv about what happened yesterday, I should have never mentioned what happened in Afghanistan." Steve began and Olivia just groaned, she did not want to have this conversation in the slightest and that was regardless of her hangover. But it was the only thing that was preventing her from getting up and leaving. Olivia really wished that Nora had stopped her from drinking so much tequila last night.

"Your damn right you shouldn't have mentioned it, what happened over there is none of your business and I don't even want to know how you found out in the first place. But you have no right in bringing it up as you have no idea what happened; what I went through and I don't want you to ask about. It is not your place to ask about Steve just like it is not my place to ask what the hell you've been doing for the last six years. I do not talk about my deployments with anyone, end of story. Juts because you're in the navy doesn't make you special enough that I'd talk about it with you Steve." Olivia bluntly stated or rather attempted to state in a rather blunt manner but since she was dehydrated from all of last's night drinking, her voice was very croaky and sounded like she was an old lady and the furthest thing from being blunt or annoyed.

"I'm sorry Olivia."

"You should be Steven."

"I know you don't believe me when I said it but I do need you Olivia, I need your help in finding out what my dad was actually investigating. He couldn't trust anyone else but you and I've always been able to trust you. I haven't known Danny, Chin or Kono as long as I've known you and as such I can't trust them as easily. We've got an opportunity to do some real good here Liv, no more going through the bureaucratic red tape–" Steve attempted to explain and Olivia ran her hands through her hair. Olivia liked the job she had, she was good at what she did. The army was her family but then Olivia reminded herself that she also had a real family. She had Everett, Grady, her sister in law Ava, not to mention her unborn niece or nephew as well as Nora. Olivia knew she had missed a lot, deep down she was well aware that she missed countless things over the years but talking with Nora just reminded her of that. Olivia was so used being away that when she came home she never really adjusted. It was like she had left most of herself back there and it was bad that she felt more comfortable being deployed overseas then at home with her family. It was worse than bad and Olivia knew things had to change. She wanted things to change. Nora was right, she needed to take a break and Olivia wanted to be Olivia the person again and not just the soldier. She wanted to see her niece or nephew come into the world and be an aunt, she wanted to see Nora get her PhD.

"Shut up Steve, I'll take it." Olivia quietly announced.

"Excuse me?"

"I will take the job, if the offer still stands." Olivia clarified in a rather uncomfortable manner as she saw Steve smile, no doubt pleased he had finally gotten his way. "Don't look so arrogant McGarrett as this doesn't mean that I've forgiven you for bringing up Afghanistan because I haven't and I have some conditions for you."

"What conditions?" Steve wearily questioned.

"I work with you not for you and if at any time I get called up from the reserves back on to active duty I am going with no hesitation Steve. I am a Sergeant in the US Army and I will report for duty when ordered to do so regardless of where I am and what I am doing."

"Okay. So when can you start?"

"Give me a six weeks to get everything in order."


	5. Chapter 5

The sun was beginning to set on what had been another beautiful day in Hawaii and Olivia sighed as she watched the sunset from where she sat on the beach with the feel of the warm sand in between her toes. It had been eight weeks since Olivia had returned to Hawaii and already she had missed everything being overseas, even the constant dust storms and the sand that ended up everywhere. It was weird for Olivia being home and realizing that she had nowhere to go because she was home for good or at least an indefinite period. Olivia wasn't sure how she really felt about this but there was no much she could do about it now as her transfer to the army reserves was complete and had been for the last week. It was weird and Olivia knew that it was going to take sometime to adjust as whilst she hadn't left the army, it had been a huge part of her life so her transferring to the reserves to take a job in Steve's task force was something but it was still a big change. Just over eight years Olivia had spent in the army and now she was starting this news phase of her life and that terrified her more than being under attack in the middle of a warzone. Olivia wasn't sure whether to laugh at the fact that she was scared of trying to live a normal life for more than a couple of times.

"Here you go."

Looking up Olivia saw her eldest brother Everett holding out a beer towards her and with a small smile Olivia took the offered beer before hr brother popped down next to her on the sand. Olivia had come over to her brother's for dinner and after they had eaten the two of them had gone out to the beach which was practically a few meters away from her brother's backyard. "Thanks Everett…"

"No problem Liv, so what's on your mind kiddo? You seemed to be in your own world for a while." Everett questioned and Olivia looked at her brother momentarily before returning her gaze out towards the ocean. Her bother was digging, there was no doubt about that in the slightest.

"Oh nothing really, just pondering the existentialism of man." Olivia casually stated as she took a swing of a beer, it was better for everyone if she didn't tell her brother what was really on her mind. Too many questions would be asked and Olivia couldn't have that as she was attempting to be normal or at least try to. She needed her brother to think that everything was fine and not question anything beyond that. So Olivia would smile and make funny little quips because maybe if she believed enough that she could just even attempt to be normal in the slightest then maybe someday Olivia could actually be normal. And not prefer to be in a warzone instead the place that she called home, sitting on the beach watching a beautiful sunset on the beach of the place that was the closest thing to heaven on earth.

"You sure you're not thinking about anything else? Like maybe Iraq?" Everett questioned and Olivia forced herself to laugh. To make her brother believe that everything was fine with her, Olivia had to really sell this. This was nothing new to Olivia, she was so used to keeping things to the chest when it came to her deployments and lying about it, that the lying came almost too easy to her these days.

"No. The furthest thing from my mind actually." Olivia lied as she took another sip of her beer and sunk her feet further into the sand.

"If you say so Liv…" Everett stated not sounding too convinced. "I'm just glad that your home, we've missed you being around so it's nice to know that your home for good."

"I'll be around for a while Everett but I'm not home for good as I have not been discharged, I just transferred over to the reserves. I'm still a soldier and I can be called back to active duty at any time. I have to complete a battle assembly one weekend every month and I still have annual training. But it is nice to know that I'll be around for a lot longer than a few weeks at a time, be able to spend some quality time with you and Grady, then I promised Nora that I would try and be there for when she receives her Ph.D and hopefully I will be around for my little niece or nephew's arrival. I'm very excited to be becoming an aunt." Olivia replied and she watched a small smile appear on her brother's face when she mentioned his impending father hood. A part of Olivia couldn't believe that in four months time her brother of all people was going to have to a little baby to take care of. Everett who could barely even cook toast right, but then Olivia remembered that things changed whilst she had been away. People grew up and evolved as they lived their lives without her.

"Well I'm just glad that you are sitting here next to me safe and sound, you know we worry about you when you're deployed overseas. Worrying that one day we'll get a knock on the door and instead of being told you've been injured in the line of duty. Instead it'll be an officer and a Chaplin telling us that you were killed in the line of duty…" Everett grimly noted as he took a sip of his beer.

"I know it's not fair what my job and being overseas does to you guys, it's a lot to ask. I'm fully aware of the risks of my occupation every time I go back on a deployment but I'm a soldier Everett, it's not just my job but also who I am. I don't know anything else really. It's all I wanted to be since I was 20, I would have dropped out of college to enlist if it wasn't for dad. Threatening to disown me if I didn't at least complete college after all the money he had spent so far on my education." Olivia quietly added as she knew that there was a lot of uncertainty that came with her job and it put a strain on her family, Especially when she was injured in the line of duty a few years back. That had been a close one for all involved.

"Dad was proud of you Olivia–" Everett began but Olivia just scoffed as she knew that was a complete and utter lie. Their father was beyond disappointed that Olivia had chosen to join the army and made no attempts to hide his anger at the matter. Especially when Olivia had announced she was going back overseas a few months after she had almost died from a gunshot wound she had sustained in the line of duty.

"–No he wasn't Everett, nice try though…" Olivia retorted as she took another swing of her beer.

"I know dad was pretty vocal about his feelings about you being in the army but it didn't mean that dad wasn't worrying about you when you were deployed overseas. Praying every night that you would come home safety. Dad always saw you doing something else with your life Liv, maybe following in my footsteps and joining dad at the company. I don't think he ever imagined or could prepare himself for you saying that you had enlisted in the army. But I can assure you Olivia that whilst dad may not have shown in front of you, he was proud of you and what you were doing over there. He knew you were a hero, just like the rest of us this." Everett said and Olivia looked over at brother, he had the same green eyes as Olivia and their brother Everett, which they got from their mother. Although Everett was the only one who had their father's brunette hair and his strong features, out of the three Phillips children Everett was the one who looked the most like their father.

"I am no hero Everett." Olivia wearily stated as her eyes drifted back over to the ocean.

"Well now that your home Live, maybe you can find a nice guy and perhaps settle down? This domesticated bliss isn't as bad as it sounds and you know how much I used to avoid it but look at me now? Very happily married with a kid on the way and I have to say I have never been happier, you should try it baby sister." Everett stated and Olivia could afford to genuinely laugh as her brother's suggestion that she start looking for someone to settle down with was hilarious. It was like Everett had forgotten whom he was talking to.

"You remember the last time that I was in a relationship of actual sustenance? It ended up with a certain fiancée leaving me because he couldn't deal with what I do. Claiming that I loved my job more than I loved him." Olivia scoffed.

"Well you kind of do Liv…" Everett couldn't hep but point out.

"Not the point Everett. And there is nothing wrong in being proud of your job and if I can't find a man who will accept me fully for who I am and what I do then it's probably best that I remain single. I don't need a man to validate me or make me happy, I'm content with my life the way it is and I most certainly don't need a man who feels emasculated because of my job or spews some crappy and sexist comments about women being in the armed forces. Most guys I've dated have fallen into those categories since I joined the army so if I were you I wouldn't hold my breath about me getting married anytime soon." Olivia retorted with a small scoff. "You know what? I should probably head out soon…"

"Oh yes… First day on the new job in the exclusive Five-0 task force, time sure has seemed to fly since you told me that Steve McGarrett offered you a job. A part of me still can't believe you took it but I'm just happy that my little sister is sticking around for a while." Everett quipped and Olivia smiled, six long weeks had passed since she had accepted Steve's offer and in that time Olivia had completed everything she needed to do. She had transferred to the reserves, gotten her affairs in order, talked the new job over with her family as well as Nora along with investing in some work clothes that didn't have the words US Army emblazed anywhere on them.

"Indeed. But before I get started I have to go to the governor's office first thing and be sworn in as an officer a law. Steve is coming with me so that's a good thing as I never expected to me the governor in any kind of circumstances let alone these ones. Ten years ago I would have never expected my life to turn out like this but since then it hasn't exactly been normal or straightforward." Olivia wearily replied as she took a slow sip of her beer.

"I know. I still can't believe that you, my little sister is going to be a cop–" Everett began before Olivia decided to interrupt her brother in order to correct him on a few things. Without mentioning that she was still in disbelief about the whole thing as Olivia had no idea on how to be a cop, sure she knew right from wrong and sure she was in the army. But whether that made her qualified to work in the governor's task force? Olivia wasn't too sure but she would see about that tomorrow.

"–Soldier first and always."


End file.
